By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WINTON TERRACE - Police on Wednesday found the abandoned sport-utility vehicle of a Wyoming man who reported being kidnapped and robbed. Police were searching it for evidence.

A Crime Stoppers call Wednesday morning tipped Cincinnati District 5 police to the 800 block of Dutch Colony Drive, Winton Terrace, where they found the blue 1999 Ford Expedition that Patrick J. Rader, 41, reported missing from his Wyoming home early Tuesday.

Officers impounded the SUV, said Wyoming Police Sgt. Stephen Cordes.

Cordes released more details about events preceding Rader's report that his business, Ace America's Check Express on West Galbraith Road, had been robbed of $100,000 about midnight Monday.

Cordes said a preliminary investigation supports the account Rader gave police:

About 9:30 p.m. Monday, a pair of men knocked at Rader's home in the 1200 block of Beechwood Drive.

Rader allowed one of the men to enter his home, "and it went downhill from there," Cordes said.

At least one man was armed with a handgun. The men bound Rader with duct tape, which they also used to tape a rag into a blindfold.

The men put Rader into a car trunk. At some point, his blindfold was removed and he was taken inside a vacant home on Carll Street in Fairmount; Rader was able to later show Cincinnati officers the house. Inside, his alleged attackers "just sort of terrorized him," Cordes said.

The men then drove him to his check-cashing business and forced Rader to open a safe. He told police they stole about $100,000 in cash.

After Rader met with police and returned home, he discovered the SUV missing. Police think a third man may have been involved and that he stayed behind and took the SUV, Cordes said.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com